Kitchen hand tool or implement



Feb 11 1969 R. F. SEIFERT 3,427,636 7 KITCHEN HAND TOOL OR IMPLEMENT Filed Sept. 6,. 1966 JA/ l/F/(TOR ROBE Rf F. SEIFERT United States Patent 3,427,636 KITCHEN HAND TOOL 0R IMPLEMENT Robert F. Seifert, 2961 Exon Drive, Evandale, Cincinnati, Ohio 45241 Filed Sept. 6, 1966, Ser. No. 577,446 US. Cl. -105 1 Claim Int. Cl. A471 17/00; B25f 1/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Summary of the invention This invention relates to improvement in a hand tool and particularly to an improved kitchen hand tool or implement.

It is becoming more and more popular to equip home kitchens with garbage disposals, that is, a device generally utilized with a kitchen sink and connected with a sanitary sewer and through which off-falls and the like of the kitchen and dining table are disposed of. The said garbage disposers is provided with motor driven means whereby bones and the like are ground or reduced in size so as to pass without difliculty into the said sewer system.

While it is desired to place the materials to be disposed of in the opening to or entrance to the disposer, the said materials are more generally placed on a sink bottom substantially adjacent, or close to, the said opening of the said disposer and it is then necessary to push the materials being disposed of into the said opening to the disposer, and this operation is generally effected through a persons hand whether gloved or otherwise.

The principal object of the present invention is the provision of a scraper, pusher, or the like, for pushing the said material on the bottom of the sink, around its opening, into said opening through the instrumentality of a human hand.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a scraper having associated therewith a handle and which scraper is provided with two or more scraping edges of relatively large width so that a relatively large amount of materials can be pushed at the same time.

It has been found that frequently the material to be disposed of includes relatively large and relatively tough material 'and/or compacted material which, even when in the presence of running water, in order to be placed in the disposer must of necessity be pushed int-o and through the opening to the disposer. Again, in the past, it has been customary for a person to utilize his fingers in effecting this operation, and, said person must exercise extreme care to avoid injury by the cutters, or the like, usually employed in reducing the size of the material, and dispensing the compacted material to a point for convenient insertion into the disposer opening.

It is therefore a further object of the present invention to provide the kitchen tool of the present invention with means whereby the said material may be mechanically pushed into the disposer opening after the said material has been brought to the said opening of the disposer by the scraper.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a combination hand tool for use in scraping 3,427,636 Patented Feb. 11, 1969 ice materials from utensils onto a disposer sink bottom, scraping said materials on the sink bottom to and into an opening to the disposer, and providing on said tool means for tamping the material within the disposer opening down to the disposing mechanism without danger or interference to the user.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a com bination hand tool, as set forth in the previous paragraph, having the tamping means thereof of a length effective to do said tamping but which tamping means is not a length to interfere with the moveable cutting or grinding means and thereby break the said cutting 'or grinding means or the tamper itself.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention should be readily apparent by reference to the following specification considered in conjuction with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof and it is to be understood that any modifications may be made in the exact structural details there shown and described, withiri the scope of the appended claims, without departing from or exceeding the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the kitchen hand tool or implement in position for use by a user.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the tool of the present invention as seen from the lower, or left hand, end of the tool in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the hand tool of the present invention as seen from the upper, or right hand, end of the tool in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the hand tool of the present invention as seen from line 44 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the scraper blade of the present invention, forming a detail of the invention.

Throughout the several views of the drawings similar reference characters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

As noted above the hand kitchen tool or appliance of the present invention is primarily concerned with pushing materials to and disposing same within the entrance of a disposing mechanism, whereby said disposale material is prepared and dumped into the usual sanitary sewer. The said tool is indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 10 and includes a substantially central portion or scraper indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 11. The said hand tool central portion or scraper 11 includes a body portion 12 with radial blades 13 and 14 from the opposite sides of the body portion 11. As shown in FIG. 5 the said scraper is provided centrally of its body portion 12 with an opening or aperture 15 through which a part of the total tool projects, preferably, a handle portion 16. The scraper blades 13 and 14 are of considerable width and each has a relatively sharp or keen edge 17 and 18, respectively.

The handle portion 16," supra, is, in effect, a cylindrical hollow body 19, preferably, integrally, provided at its outer end with a closure 20. The said body portion 16 is of a diameter to be conveniently grasped by a person, and, particularly, by a woman since she will be primarily the user in housework during preparing and following meals.

The handle portion 16 is integral with a second cylindrical portion, as will presently become obvious, a tamper, indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 21 and including a hollow body portion 22. The enlarged cylindrical portion 21 has at one end an integral head 23 and from which the hollow handle portion 19 extends. It should be here noted that the hollow interior of the handle portion 16 and hollow interior of the tamper 21 are connected to one another through the opening 24 in the tamper integral head 23. As seen in the drawings i.e., preferably in FIG. 3, the tamper 21 is of the same diameter as the body 12 of the scraper blade and said scraper blade has parallel keen edges and with their opposite faces of said body portion sides parallel with one another and one face of the scraper body in face contact with the outer surface of the tamper body integral head 23. The scraper blade 11 is secured to the handle 16 and tamper 21 through any suitable means preferably through adhesives whereby the said contacting faces of the scraper body 12 and tamper integral head 23 have their contacting faces secured to one another and the inner wall of the aperture 15 in the scraper body 12 is adhesively secured to the exterior of the handle 16 just outwardly of the scraper blade.

The other end of the tamper or tamping head of the tamper portion 21 is closed by a tamper head 25 which has its body portion for a portion of its length, or thickness, reduced as at 26 to enter the hollow interior of the tamper body 22 and thereby providing a shoulder 27 against which the free edge of the hollow tamper body 22 engages.

It should further be here noted that the kitchen hand tool or implement of the present invention is preferably formed of one of the harder plastics, wherefore, the tool can be economically produced, and is quite light and strong for the purpose intended. Obviously, the kitchen hand tool or implement of the present invention may be provided with but a single scraping blade and not two of them as illustrated in the drawing. While, seemingly, this would seem to unbalance the tool, it is not believed that this unbalance will cause any difficulty.

There is somewhat diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1 the bottom 28 of a sink or the like having therethrough an opening 29 to the device, not shown, for preparing the materials for discharge into the sanitary sewer. Disposable material 30 is illustrated as on the upper surface of the sink bottom 28 and arranged between the scraper blade 11 and the said opening 29. It is believed obvious that a person through the handle portion 19 could push the materials 30 in the direction of the arrow 31 toward and into the said opening 29. Obviously, the implement 10, of the present invention, while still grasped by its handle 16 could through its tamper head 25 push the material 30 into and through the opening 29.

It should be noted that the cutter or grinding elements of the disposer is a definite distance below the top of the opening 29, and it is necessary that the tamper 21 have a length from its integral closed end 23, the adjacent surfaces of the scraper blade or blades, 13 and 14, to the outer surface of the tamper head 25 that with the said surfaces of the scraper blades on the sink bottom, around the opening 29, the outer or tamping surface of the tamper head will be short of the cutter or grinding elements of the disposer. In other words, the scraper blade, or blades, acts as a safety gauge in limiting the depth to which the tamper can be pushed.

It is believed the foregoing fully and completely describes the hand tool of the present invention and the operation thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A kitchen hand tool or implement for pushing garbage to and through a drain opening in a sink bottom to a power actuated garbage comminuting and disposing chamber located in alignment with and beneath the said sink drain opening, the invention consisting of a cylindrically shaped tamper body having an overall, outside diameter less than the inside diameter of the sink drain opening and a length permitting insertion of the tamper body through the sink drain opening and into the garbage comminuting and disposing chamber, a pair of scraper blades extending laterally from opposite sides of one end of the tamper body, said blades having an overall, lateral spread greater than the inside diameter of the sink drain opening, each blade having a free end adapted to engage a portion of the sink bottom adjacent the drain opening to preclude engagement of the tamper body with the bottom of the chamber, and each of said blades having a width dimension at its connected portion with the tamper body substantially that of the diameter of said tamper body, and a handle connected to and extending longitudinally from the said one end of the tamper body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,541,088 6/l925 Whitenaok 15245 3,005,996 10/1961 Hyde 4-295 FOREIGN PATENTS 280,020 11/1927 Great Britain.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Eraminer.

LEON G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 15236 

